Of Paintings and Nargles
by Muggle Jane
Summary: It's Ron's birthday and he needs a break from his family. He finds Luna stuck in a tree. Oneshot for The Ravishing Romance Competition, EWE. Fluffy, so fluffy!


**A/N: My entry for the Ravishing Romance Competition**

"Happy birthday, Ron," I called softly. I saw his familiar red-topped head twist this way and that, trying to locate me. "Up here."

He looked up to where I was perched on a sturdy tree branch a good few meters off the ground. "What're you doing up there?" he asked, squinting in the spring sunlight. There was a little bit of fog clinging to the trees, but it was still bright enough for him to reach a hand up to shade his eyes. It didn't really help, the patches of fog spread the sunlight.

"Sitting," I replied with a smile. "I came up to see if there were any nargles and now I can't get down again."

He peered up at me for a moment. "I thought nargles lived in mistletoe."

"They do!" I was quite impressed that he'd remembered that fact. Sometimes it seems I have to say the same things over and over again before people recall what I say. "Mistletoe lives on oak, of course, and I remembered picking some from this very tree this past winter."

He didn't seem to know what to say to that, he just nodded. "Where are your shoes?" he asked after a long moment.

"Oh." I glanced down at where my bare feet were swinging below me, pale in the slightly chilly air. "I'm not sure. That's why I was looking for the nargles, I think they've taken my shoes again. You haven't seen them, then?"

"No. If I do, I'll be sure and let you know." He sounded like he was teasing me again. He did it sometimes, but that was alright. He teased his brothers a lot and he was quite fond of them. "Where's your wand?"

"Sitting on the table beside my bed. I didn't think I would need it for a short walk out here, but of course it's when you need something the most that you've neglected to bring it with you. You're welcome to join me up here," I offered after a moment. "But then, you might get stuck too. That might not be such a good idea." He muttered something about it being a very good idea, but I couldn't quite hear him clearly. "It can be difficult to see someone who used to be happy with you, being happy with someone else," I observed.

"How do you-" he cut himself off and I could see the tops of his ears turning red. "Yeah," he said instead, sounding just a little bit miserable. He shuffled his feet and looked down at the ground. "Thanks," he said after a short time. "For the birthday wishes."

"You're welcome," I replied happily. "I have something for you, but it's at home and not here in the tree, so you'll need to wait."

"Say, d'you want a hand down?" he asked, looking up at me again.

"That would be lovely," I replied. "Dad will be home from work in a little while and he'll come looking for me, but I expect I'll be rather hungry by then."

"How long have you been up there?"

"Several hours."

"Bloody hell!" He held out his arms like I was supposed to fall into them. "Come on down, I'll catch you."

I shifted forward until I slipped from the branch and he reached up and caught me easily. I'd seen him do a lot of catching, playing quidditch back at Hogwarts. I'm larger than a quaffle, but then I suppose the principle is the same. I braced my hands on his shoulders so I wouldn't knock him over.

He pulled me against him as he brought me down to the ground, absorbing the impact of my descent with his body. He was wearing a maroon jumper with an "R" on the front and he smelled like very pleasantly like cinnamon and sunshine. His hands on my waist were very warm through my simple yellow dress. "You smell nice," I told him pleasantly, looking up into his face. I was close enough to count the freckles covering his nose. I liked being that close to him. "Thank you for helping me down. Would you like to come and get your birthday present, now?"

"I could apparate us to your house," he suggested.

"That would be good," I replied. "My feet are cold now and there's all sorts of sharp things poking out of the ground."

I felt that twisting, pulling sensation near my navel and then we were outside my front door. "Are those your shoes?" he asked, looking up to the roof. Sure enough, two matching bits of rainbow were tucked up on the roof above the front door. At my nod, he dropped one hand from my waist and pulled out his wand. "Accio shoes." They flew towards us.

"Thank you!" I replied, happy to see them again. My poor feet were a little tender from my adventure through the woods. I took the shoes from him and stepped away from his personal space. "I'm going to make some tea. Would you like some?"

"Yeah. I mean, please."

I led the way into my house and dropped my shoes beside the door. "I'll be right back down." I ascended the stairs to my room to get my wand and his present. The whole Weasley family had helped us rebuild our house after it was destroyed and it looked almost the same as it had before. When I came back down the stairs, Ron was seated at our kitchen table. I cast a heating charm at the kettle and set Ron's wrapped gift in front of him on the table before setting about making tea.

I heard him tear the paper off. "That's brilliant, Luna. Thank you!" He sounded a little surprised and very pleased and I smiled to myself. I was glad he liked it. I'd known he probably wouldn't appreciate a pair of spectrespecs, although why he wouldn't I wasn't sure, so I'd painted a picture of him playing quidditch.

My smile grew when I turned with the tea tray and saw the expression on his face. I'd charmed the picture, of course, so he was catching and deflecting quaffles by the dozens. He looked up at me. "I mean it, that's really good!"

"You're welcome." My heart felt full of sunshine. His smile always made me feel like I had an army of chocolate frogs hopping madly around my stomach. I poured tea for us and fixed his just the way he liked it before setting the cup and saucer in front of him. I perched in the chair opposite him and took my own cup, wrapping my hands around it for warmth.

"Why didn't you apparate out of there?"

"I was going to, but every time I thought about it the branch moved. It was safer just to wait."

We drank our tea in a comfortable silence and I was starting to feel nice and warm again. "I should get back," he said, setting his cup down. "Mum's going to be wondering where I've gotten to." He was staring rather pointedly at the tea up. "Would you like to come back with me? We'll be having cake in a little bit." I saw his ears go red again.

I leaned forward, concerned. "Are the wrackspurts getting you, too? Your ears went all red. I feel like mine should be doing that right now." I'd been feeling that way since he'd pulled me against him when he'd rescued me from the tree.

He cleared his throat and pushed his chair back, scraping it against the floor. "N-No."

I got up as well. "I'd love to come with you for some cake." It had been a while since I'd been along to The Burrow. Dad and I had stayed there while our house was being rebuilt. Mrs. Weasley was always so sweet to me, I think she was concerned that I didn't have my own mum anymore.

Ron picked up his painting and offered me his other arm, and I looped my hands around it. He didn't apparate us right away and I looked up into his face to see him looking down at me with his blue eyes. I liked his eyes, they were like the sky on a clear day. "Luna," he started. I could see his ears were still bright red. I wished I had my own spectrespecs just then, and I could rid him of those bothersome wrackspurts.

He moved his head down towards me and then his lips brushed mine, just once. He straightened again and he had a hopeful expression on his face. "Alright?"

"I was hoping you would do that," I replied quietly. I couldn't help but smile. It was a sweet kiss and I very much wanted to do it again. "Would you mind doing it again?"

He ducked his head toward mine again and I rose up on my toes to meet him. His mouth found mine. It was a longer kiss, but no less gentle. I gave a happy little sigh as I lowered myself to stand flat on the floor again.

I felt the familiar twist behind my navel. We were off to The Burrow for some cake.


End file.
